The definitions set forth in this section apply throughout this chapter unless the context clearly requires otherwise.

(1) "Agricultural commodities," or "commodities," means: (a) Grains for which inspection standards have been established under the United States grain standards act; (b) pulses and similar commodities for which inspection standards have been established under the agricultural marketing act of 1946; and (c) other similar agricultural products for which inspection standards have been established or which have been otherwise designated by the department by rule for inspection services or the warehousing requirements of this chapter.

(2) "Appeal inspection" means, for commodities covered by federal standards, a review of original inspection or reinspection results by an authorized United States department of agriculture inspector. For commodities covered under state standards, an appeal inspection means a review of original or reinspection results by a supervising inspector. An appeal inspection may be performed either on the basis of the official file sample or a new sample obtained by the same means as the original if the lot remains intact.

(3) "Conditioning" means, but is not limited to, the drying or cleaning of agricultural commodities.

(4) "Deferred price contract" means a contract for the sale of commodities that conveys the title and all rights of ownership to the commodities represented by the contract to the buyer, but allows the seller to set the price of the commodities at a later date based on an agreed upon relationship to a future month's price or some other mutually agreeable method of price determination. Deferred price contracts include but are not limited to those contracts commonly referred to as delayed price, price later contracts, or open price contracts.

(5) "Department" means the department of agriculture of the state of Washington.

(6) "Depositor" means (a) any person who deposits a commodity with a Washington state licensed warehouse operator for storage, handling, conditioning, or shipment, or (b) any person who is the owner or legal holder of a warehouse receipt, outstanding scale weight ticket, or other evidence of the deposit of a commodity with a Washington state licensed warehouse operator or (c) any producer whose agricultural commodity has been sold to a grain dealer through the dealer's place of business located in the state of Washington, or any Washington producer whose agricultural commodity has been sold to or is under the control of a grain dealer, whose place of business is located outside the state of Washington.

(7) "Director" means the director of the department or his or her duly authorized representative.

(8) "Exempt grain dealer" means a grain dealer who purchases less than one hundred thousand dollars of covered commodities annually from producers, and operates under the provisions of RCW 22.09.060.

(9) "Failure" means:

(a) An inability to financially satisfy claimants in accordance with this chapter and the time limits provided for in it;

(b) A public declaration of insolvency;

(c) A revocation of license and the leaving of an outstanding indebtedness to a depositor;

(d) A failure to redeliver any commodity to a depositor or to pay depositors for commodities purchased by a licensee in the ordinary course of business and where a bona fide dispute does not exist between the licensee and the depositor;

(e) A failure to make application for license renewal within sixty days after the annual license renewal date; or

(f) A denial of the application for a license renewal.

(10) "Grain dealer" means any person who, through his or her place of business located in the state of Washington, solicits, contracts for, or obtains from a producer, title, possession, or control of any agricultural commodity for purposes of resale, or any person who solicits, contracts for, or obtains from a Washington producer, title, possession, or control of any agricultural commodity for purposes of resale.

(11) "Historical depositor" means any person who in the normal course of business operations has consistently made deposits in the same warehouse of commodities produced on the same land. In addition the purchaser, lessee, and/or inheritor of such land from the original historical depositor with reference to the land shall be considered a historical depositor with regard to the commodities produced on the land.

(12) "Inspection point" means a city, town, or other place wherein the department maintains inspection and weighing facilities.

(13) "Original inspection" means an initial, official inspection of a grain or commodity.

(14) "Person" means a natural person, individual, firm, partnership, corporation, company, society, association, cooperative, two or more persons having a joint or common interest, or any unit or agency of local, state, or federal government.

(15) "Producer" means any person who is the owner, tenant, or operator of land who has an interest in and is entitled to receive all or any part of the proceeds from the sale of a commodity produced on that land.

(16) "Put through" means agricultural commodities that are deposited in a warehouse for receiving, handling, conditioning, or shipping, and on which the depositor has concluded satisfactory arrangements with the warehouse operator for the immediate or impending shipment of the commodity.

(17) "Reinspection" means an official review of the results of an original inspection service by an inspection office that performed that original inspection service. A reinspection may be performed either on the basis of the official file sample or a new sample obtained by the same means as the original if the lot remains intact.

(18) "Scale weight ticket" means a load slip or other evidence of deposit, serially numbered, not including warehouse receipts as defined in subsection (25) of this section, given a depositor on request upon initial delivery of the commodity to the warehouse and showing the warehouse's name and state number, type of commodity, weight thereof, name of depositor, and the date delivered.

(19) "Shortage" means that a warehouse operator does not have in his or her possession sufficient commodities at each of his or her stations to cover the outstanding warehouse receipts, scale weight tickets, or other evidence of storage liability issued or assumed by him or her for the station.

(20) "Station" means two or more warehouses between which commodities are commonly transferred in the ordinary course of business and that are (a) immediately adjacent to each other, or (b) located within the corporate limits of any city or town and subject to the same transportation tariff zone, or (c) at any railroad siding or switching area and subject to the same transportation tariff zone, or (d) at one location in the open country off rail, or (e) in any area that can be reasonably audited by the department as a station under this chapter and that has been established as such by the director by rule adopted under chapter 34.05 RCW, or (f) within twenty miles of each other but separated by the border between Washington and Idaho or Oregon when the books and records for the station are maintained at the warehouse located in Washington.

(21) "Subterminal warehouse" means any warehouse that performs an intermediate function in which agricultural commodities are customarily received from dealers rather than producers and where the commodities are accumulated before shipment to a terminal warehouse.

(22) "Terminal warehouse" means any warehouse designated as a terminal by the department, and located at an inspection point where inspection facilities are maintained by the department and where commodities are ordinarily received and shipped by common carrier.

(23) "Warehouse," also referred to as a public warehouse, means any elevator, mill, subterminal grain warehouse, terminal warehouse, country warehouse, or other structure or enclosure located in this state that is used or useable for the storage of agricultural products, and in which commodities are received from the public for storage, handling, conditioning, or shipment for compensation. The term does not include any warehouse storing or handling fresh fruits and/or vegetables, any warehouse used exclusively for cold storage, or any warehouse that conditions yearly less than three hundred tons of an agricultural commodity for compensation.

(24) "Warehouse operator" means any person owning, operating, or controlling a warehouse in the state of Washington.

(25) "Warehouse receipt" means a negotiable or nonnegotiable warehouse receipt as provided for in Article 7 of Title 62A RCW.

Reviser's note: The definitions in this section have been alphabetized pursuant to RCW 1.08.015(2)(k).

Effective date—1994 c 46: See note following RCW 15.58.070.

Severability—1989 c 354: See note following RCW 15.36.012.

Severability—1983 c 305: See note following RCW 20.01.010.